A 1941 State Wrestling Champion for Osage, Iowa High School and a two time All American at Iowa State Teachers College (now University of Northern Iowa). He competed on the 1949 NCAA Runner up and 1950 NCAA National Championship teams. So, Luverne Klar was already a well known name to wrestling when he started coaching at Mankato High School in 1951. He led the scarlets at Mankato, later Mankato West, for the next 36 years! His 1964 team won the Minnesota State Championship in the old "one class" tournament. Five other scarlet teams finished as State Runner ups. His Mankato teams also won nine Big Nine Conference titles, including six straight titles from 1956 to i961. During that stretch the Scarlets won 43 straight conference meets. Klar coached 57 individual State place winners and 15 State Champions. His career wrestling coaching record was 359 - 161 and 11. He also coached baseball for 35 years and officiated wrestling for 30 years. His combined wrestling and baseball coaching victories finished at 629 meets and/or games'. He took teams into competition well over one thousand times! Long time assistant coach, Jack Bengston says, "Luveme had that certain charisma that led him to be respected by his fellow coaches and wrestlers. He is one of the builders of wrestling in Minnesota. He helped take wrestling out of it's infancy and bring it to it's greatness of today." Klar is also a charter member of the Dave Bartelma Minnesota Wrestling Hall of Fame, and an 1996 Inductee of the Iowa Wrestling Hall of Fame. Luverne's daughter, Sue Ries, says it best in talking about her father, "He has done much throughout the years to support the young men he coached in their lives after high school. He is remembered by many as a positive influence in their lives." When people look back at the years when Minnesota High School Wrestling really grew to it's level of today one of the names that will come to mind is that of Luveme Klar. A great wrestler, a great coach and a great leader of young men.